VIFF streaming series of films for Black History Month
Posted February 4, 2021 10:09 pm.
Last Updated February 4, 2021 11:04 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — In honour of Black History Month, 10 films highlighting the diversity of Black experience in Canada and beyond are being showcased by the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Black History Month: Everywhere We Are launches Friday, and the series of short and feature films will be available to stream through March 5.
One of the offerings is from Montreal-based documentarian Will Prosper, who likes to focus on the people and stories that don’t get a lot of attention.
“This movie is about somebody who is not known, and we have many movies like that for people who are not Black. He’s somebody that really wants to get engaged in whatever the conversation is going to be, engaged in the betterment of himself, his community.”
This #BlackHistoryMonth we’re celebrating Black voices in cinema and shining the spotlight on powerful stories of resilience and liberation with our #EverywhereWeAre series, curated by Nya Lewis.
Streaming on #VIFFConnect starting Feb 5 https://t.co/hopWbPrSDc. pic.twitter.com/JGkY0LJWkm
— Vancouver Film Fest (@VIFFest) February 4, 2021
His film KENBE La, Until We Win, is about a Quebec artist and activist who returns to his native Haiti with the goal of starting a permaculture project. Expanding the range of documentary subjects beyond Black Canadians who are household names is crucial.
“To me these are the stories that I’m really looking for, just to shed a light on the reality for the Afro-descended here in Canada, to see a different face, a different facet.”
“In this case that person is somebody that is very unknown, but he has a very exceptional story. This is the story of the life of many black Canadians where they do exceptional things and oftentimes it’s invisibilized, it’s something that you don’t see.”
He says portraying everyday acts of resistance, joy, struggle, and triumph allows audiences to understand the reality and diversity of Black Canadians’ experiences.
“At the end of the day, you discover a little bit more about the realities of this community, of this person … to see okay this is the reality of some communities that are living in our country that we’re not familiar with.”
